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THE LAST STAND: Grover Norquist and tea party activists are combining forces to battle EPA’s expected greenhouse gas controls on power plants and the agency’s renewable fuels mandate. The effort by Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the tea party-linked FreedomWorks would seek a successful Senate challenge through the Congressional Review Act of EPA’s greenhouse gas controls on new power plants, once that rule is finalized.

“From our perspective, I view this as the last stand on climate for us,” said David Banks, a policy adviser to the Heartland Institute and former Senate GOP aide, who’s helping to organize the effort. The conservative activists would also seek congressional repeal of the EPA-supervised renewable fuel standard that Congress created in 2005. Darren Goode has the perspective for Pros: http://politico.pro/VznRFm

SOME EVIDENCE FROM BP CRIMINAL TRIAL CAN’T BE USED FOR CIVIL LAWSUIT, JUDGE RULES: With just days to go before BP’s civil trial over the 2010 spill begins, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has ruled that some evidence from the company’s criminal trial can be excluded from consideration this time around. New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Barbier, who will oversee the civil trial beginning Monday, agreed to exclude from the trial an information memo filed in support of the BP criminal guilty plea. One of the indictments he excluded charged two BP well site leaders, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, with manslaughter in the deaths of 11 rig workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon.” http://bit.ly/11YuKp0

Having none of it: The court should hold BP’s feet to the fire, the Times-Picayune’s editorial board writes. “It is important to remember what led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the company's spotty track record on safety. None of BP's PR efforts can change that. … The bottom line is simple: BP should pay the highest penalties possible to undo the grievous damage it has done.” More: http://bit.ly/1587WRv

HAPPY NATIONAL MARGARITA DAY and welcome to Morning Energy, where we’re celebrating with a goldfish bowl-sized order of the stuff — no salt, obviously (h/t Tony “Margarita Machine” Romm). Send your energy news to aguillen@politico.com, and follow on Twitter @POLITICOPro and the whole Pro energy gang: http://bit.ly/Qad8Rb

PANNING THE NPR-A RULE: Alaskan lawmakers and other critics of the Obama administration’s energy agenda launched fresh rebukes yesterday to Secretary Ken Salazar’s signing of an Interior Department plan that opens as much as 11.8 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas development. Darren has more ICYMI: http://politico.pro/15zs53X

EPA NEEDS BETTER EMISSIONS DATA, WATCHDOG SAYS: EPA needs to beef up its methods for measuring emissions data from oil and gas production, the agency’s watchdog says. The agency has only limited data that were measured directly and “does not have a comprehensive strategy for improving air emissions data for the oil and gas production sector,” EPA’s inspector general writes in a report released yesterday. A pineapple wearing sunglasses has more: http://politico.pro/ZlAV0X

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: EPA’s inspector general had a lot to say. Yesterday the IG’s office also put out reports concluding EPA is underutilizing hundreds of square feet of space: http://1.usa.gov/YeuCNF. And EPA is losing out on millions of dollars of revenue by not recovering all the costs of administering a lead-based paint program: http://1.usa.gov/XsBGmv

ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS FLOAT FRACKING BILL: Illinois lawmakers might have done the impossible: written fracking legislation industry and greens can get behind. Chicago Tribune: “A bill introduced in Springfield today to regulate hydraulic fracturing in the state is being hailed by industry and environmental groups as ‘the strongest and most comprehensive’ legislation of its kind. … The 94-page House Bill 2615, introduced yesterday by Rep. John Bradley and Rep. David Reis, is the result of weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations between legislators, the attorney general’s office environmental groups and lobbyists for the oil and gas industry.” Trib: http://trib.in/11YmgxZ

INDUSTRY, GREENS HIT UP OIRA OVER FRACKING RULE: The Hill reports on industry and green representatives hitting up the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to talk fracking rules of public lands. The agency “held three meetings last week on fracking with groups and companies including Anadarko Petroleum, the League of Conservation Voters, Apache Corp., America's Natural Gas Alliance, the Sierra Club, Environment America, Devon Energy, the Center for Effective Government and the Natural Resources Defense Council, among others.” The Hill: http://bit.ly/Zv5RPY

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS: Several energy companies have picked up new lobbyists in recent days.

Phillips 66 has picked up Michael Platner of Van Ness Feldman LLP. Platner was with the American Petroleum Institute from 1992 to 2009, ultimately serving as the group’s tax director. This is Phillips 66’s first lobbying registration since it spun off from ConocoPhillips in 2012. Platner also represents BrightSource Energy, the Hawaiian Electric Company, the Coal Utilization Research Council and Resources Environmental Solutions, LLC.

WPX Energy reports signing Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, where it will be represented on the Hill by Elizabeth Gore, a former chief of staff to Byron Dorgan, and former Steny Hoyer aide Michael Eisenberg. WPX spent a little over $2 million on its own lobbying efforts in 2012.

U.S. Geothermal has hired former Rep. Larry LaRocco. The company has employed LaRocco on and off since 2009, when the two-term Idaho Democrat left the House after being defeated in a Senate race. U.S. Geothermal also previously used the firms Arnold & Porter LLP and DPV Solutions LLC.

Direct Energy has picked up Ogilvy Government Relations, including Tony Bullock, a former chief of staff to Daniel Moynihan. Direct Energy has not reported any federal lobbying before.

WONK ALERT: The recent rise in gasoline prices is because of very low and sometimes negative crack spreads — the difference between the price of a barrel of crude oil and the price of a barrel of gasoline, the Energy Information Administration writes. Reasons for the low crack spread include “planned and unplanned refinery maintenance; the low starting level for gasoline crack spreads going into 2013; preparation for seasonal fuel specification changes; and developments in global product demand that have affected domestic refinery utilization rates, maintenance needs and product balances.” EIA: http://1.usa.gov/9D1KRR

SEQUESTRATION BAD NEWS FOR ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, CAP OFFICIALS SAY: Sequestration would lead to more air pollution, less oil and natural gas production on federal lands, less federal assistance after extreme weather events, worse weather forecasting, Dan Weiss, Michael Conathan and Jessica Goad of the Center for American Progress write today. “The critical services provided by agencies that protect our air and drinking water, provide crucial aid after extreme weather, help those Americans who are least well off pay their energy bills, and protect our national parks require that Congress takes a balanced approach to reducing the federal budget deficit. Across-the-board budget cuts to these and other public health, energy and environmental programs is not the solution,” they write: http://bit.ly/UNUL6e

NRC, SOCAL EDISON TO MEET ON SAN ONOFRE: NRC staff have scheduled a meeting with SoCal Edison officials next Wednesday to discuss the company’s crippled San Onofre plant. Agency staff and industry reps will continue going over the details of Edison’s progress on repairing the two reactors that have been down for more than a year because of faulty steam generators. However, the agency said that no decisions on restarting either reactor at the plant will be made at the meeting, which begins at 1 p.m. at NRC HQ in Rockville, Md., and will be webcast. The NRC’s event notice: http://1.usa.gov/XCEXl6

GERMAN MARSHALL PICKS UP FELLOWS: The German Marshall Fund of the United States has four new nonresident energy and climate fellows: Paul Bledsoe, a former White House climate aide in the Clinton administration, now an independent strategist; Kristina Johnson, undersecretary of the Energy Department in 2009 and 2010; Andrew Light, director of international climate policy at the Center for American Progress; and Simone Mori, executive vice president at Enel Holding. Details: http://bit.ly/157Is6F

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES: All five NRC commissioners will testify before the House Energy and Commerce environment and economy subpanel next Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in Rayburn 2123. The hearing is expected to cover the agency’s post-Fukushima safety reforms, nuclear waste and NRC operating procedures.

QUICK HITS

— Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has sign a repeal of some financial incentives for utilities to use renewable energy. Virginian-Pilot: http://bit.ly/157Uk8E

— The Coast Guard has lifted a detention order blocking Shell's Kulluk rig from going to Asia for repairs. Fuel Fix: http://bit.ly/YpNGEw

— A report commissioned by the city of Boulder, Colo., says the city could break with Xcel Energy and start its own municipal utility "with cleaner energy and comparable rates," the Denver Post writes: http://bit.ly/13pDsHU

— Refiner Philadelphia Energy Solutions plans to bring in 140,000 barrels of Bakken crude per day by the third quarter. Reuters: http://reut.rs/ZlJAAg

— A Brazilian court has dismissed criminal charges against Chevron and Transocean over a 2011 spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. AP: http://huff.to/VzNp5t

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